New Orleans Hornets VS. LA Lakers Free NBA Playoff Prediction

New Orleans Hornets VS. LA Lakers Free NBA Playoff Prediction: Alright, now I’ve previewed a few of the opening playoff series’ in the NBA pretty accurately, if you don’t believe me, you can check it out HERE.

If you are happy about taking my word for it, then here are the match-ups I feel pretty good about…

I picked the Celtics to win easily, despite many pundits claiming the Knicks’ chances to be grand – and while Boston did get some injury help, they did sweep the Knicks right out of the playoffs. I flat out warned Spurs backers, “If Mike Conley can hit shots, and if Marc Gasol can cause some problems with his size, look for an 8-seed beating a 1-seed!” I said the Portland/Dallas series would be wild, and it’s at least going 6, maybe 7 if Portland can hold serve at home in Game 6. I thought Denver and Oklahoma would be tough, and while it certainly has been close every single game, the Nuggets just got their first win last night as the Thunder are up 3-1. I thought the Heat might drop a game, but easily handle the 76ers. I don’t know if it’s been easy, but if it goes 6, I’ll be surprised.

And then there’s the other two series. I was pretty sure that Chicago would role through the Pacers, I listed them “the biggest long shot underdog of the NBA playoffs”. Now, I said they could certainly grab a game, and I might end up being right about that, the Bulls could easily walk away winning the series 4-1, but this series has been way closer than I expected. The young Pacers are staying right with the Bulls in just about every game – the difference has been the Bulls have Derrick Rose in the final seconds, and the Pacers don’t.

And then there’s my last “gimmie” pick – the Lakers to dominate the Hornets. I actually wrote this as my write up, “Fat chance? No chance. Chris Paul is good, but he’s had better seasons, and I don’t think he’s at the top of his game. Outside of him, the Lakers are better at every single position, and it’s not close very often. If the Lakers don’t sweep this one, I will be stunned.”

Color me stunned. Now to my credit, I got this preview completely wrong from top to bottom, so I have nothing to grab onto and point out to show where I went wrong. But I’m going to say that Chris Paul is good, and while he may have had better seasons, he is at the top of his game. He’s a 6′ guard dominating a game against a team full of length. It’s awesome.

I don’t see how I can go away from the Hornets now, now that they’ve made me look so wrong. CP3 for president! Plus, I think 10.5 is WAY TOO MANY points to give a Hornets team that has been playing great. I’ll take the points with both my Tuesday picks!

New Orleans Hornets (+10.5) @ LA Lakers